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TNA: Animation Action
Impact: Animation Action, formerly TNA: Animation Action '''and sometimes but rarely called '''Impact Wrestling: Animated, is the Animated Division of Impact Wrestling. Animation Action refers to both the Animated Division and the show itself. Both the show and the Division have been around since 2007. History 'The Beginning' During an October 2007 episode of TNA Impact!, the boss at that time Jim Cornette came out and had a special announcement for the TNA fans. He spoke and revealed because of requests as well as competing with the "other company" (aka WWE), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling was going to make an Animated Division. He announced that the next week he would reveal the roster. The Animated Division was revealed the following week. It mostly featured former WWE: Animated Superstars such as The Warners; Yakko, Wakko, and Dot as well various Pokemon gym leaders. The roster also featured more up and coming characters such as Jaden Yuki, Syrus Truesdale, Alexis Rhodes, Zane Truesdale, and Chazz Princeton from Yu-Gi-Oh! GX and also included newcomers John and Jane Shepard, Kaidan Alenko, Ashley Williams, and others from the Mass Effect video game series. After revealing the roster, Cornette revealed the one in charge of the Animated Division and that man was Giovanni, a former WWE: Animated wrestler who just recently retired from the ring. Once given the microphone, Giovanni told the fans this Division would have it's own show along with TNA and it would be called TNA: Animation Action. The debut episode of Animation Action began the next week, airing two hours before TNA Impact! (that time slot still goes the same today). On this episode, Dot Warner beat Alexis Rhodes and Ashley Willians to become the first TNA Animation Women's World Champion (championship later changed to TNA Animation Knockouts Championship in 2008), Zane Truesdale and Chazz Princeton beat Urdnot Wrex and Garrus Vakarian to become the first TNA Animation Tag Team Champions, Wakko Warner beat Brawly, Kaidan Alenko, and Syrus Truesdale to become the first TNA Animation X DIvision Champion, and after suriviving a huge Battle Royal, Yakko Warner walked out of the debut episode as the TNA Animation World Heavyweight Champion; making all three of the Warner siblings hold 75% of the gold. '2010: The Struggling Year' Over the next three years, despite getting beat by WWE: Animated in the ratings, TNA: Animation Action was successful. Fans loved it just as much as the actual TNA. In fact, fans considered it to be better than the actual TNA. More wrestlers came in jumping ship from WWE, getting a feel of the new Animated Division in the business as well as newcomers in the wrestling business in general such as Dudley Puppy and Kitty Katswell from T.U.F.F. Puppy ''and various characters from the video game ''Dragon Age: Origins. However at the beginning of 2010, with the hiring of Hulk Hogan and Eric Bischoff on the actual TNA roster, things started to go downhill. Fans often consider 2010 a bad year for TNA, this was no different with Animation Action. Both shows were temporarily moved to Monday nights starting March 8, 2010 to compete with WWE Raw, but that run didn't last long as they moved back to Thursdays on June 24. But that was only the start of their problems. Storylines were getting boring even after the additions of two new titles: the TNA Animation Television Championship and the TNA Animation Knockouts Tag Team Championships. And it didn't help that due to the high pay for Hogan and other huge stars on the TNA roster, budget cuts were forced upon Animation Action making them release dozens of wrestlers. Because of how many wrestlers were released, the ones who were left were afraid Animation Action would be forced to shut down. But then, there was Slammiversary VIII. TNA's June pay-per-view Slammiversary VIII that year was the turning point for Animation Action. At that point wrestlers were getting released one by one and they were losing fans. According to people backstage, the wrestlers vowed to make this the turning point. The wrestlers gave it everything they got at this pay-per-view and it is still considered one of the best pay-per-views in Animation Action history. The shining moment that night however was the main event: a Last Man Standing match for the Animation World Heavyweight Championship between current champion Saren Arterius and the challenger Alistair. It was Alistair's title shots versus Saren's career on the line. The match went everywhere in the arena, tons of weapons were used, blood was spilling out, even Alistair almost died after Saren threw him off the rafters into three steel chairs with barbed wire on top of a glass table. The match lasted for almost an hour until Alistair was able to pick up the victory and win the title. Since that night, Animation Action has been putting on better shows for their fans. 'Recent Developments' In 2011 when TNA was renamed Impact Wrestling, Animation Action was renamed to Impact Wrestling: Animated. Giovanni ended up switching the name back to TNA: Animation Action months later after not wanting to get into trouble with WWE: Animated. A week after Bound For Glory 2014, due to problems Impact Wrestling was facing with Spike TV about to drop them, Animation Action was "put on hold" until further notice. With the uncertainty of the division, all the belts were vacated and the roster was put on break. While some wrestlers had other companies to fall back on, others had nowhere else to go and waited. As Impact Wrestling went to Destination America, there was no news on the status of the animated division and news only got worse months later as then Animation Action President Giovanni was fired for unspecified reasons. Rumors for his firing included him and then TNA President Dixie Carter having creative difficulties. During the end of 2015, Animation Action was planning a return as Maximillion Pegasus was hired as the new president of the division and their first episode back aired on the FWM Network and on POP TV in January 2016. After a month however, the division once again went on hold. In August 2018, it was announced Animation Action would be trying once again, but it was stated it may be it's last try. Applications were opened for both returning wrestlers and newcomers. The applications are still open and from the looks of it, this new roster will be mostly of new blood. Pay-Per-View Schedule Current Championships and Holders Roster Male Wrestlers Knockouts Alumni Male Wrestlers Knockouts Trivia Category:Fictional Wrestling Companies Category:To Be Reworked